# route

Pronunciation: say "ROOT" US /ɹut/, UK /ɹuːt/

## Noun

1. A course, path, or road along which someone or something travels or passes.
   - Simple: A way or road used to get from one place to another.
   - _The expedition followed a route through the mountain pass._
   - _Migrating birds follow the same routes south every year._
2. A fixed series of stops, or the way traveled between them, as for deliveries or carrying passengers.
   - Simple: The regular path and stops that a bus, mail carrier, or delivery driver follows again and again.
   - _The airline added a new route between Denver and Tokyo._
   - _After twenty years on the same mail route, she knew every dog in the neighborhood._
3. One of several possible ways or approaches by which something can be done.
   - Simple: One way of doing something when there are other ways you could choose.
   - _Negotiation remained the most promising route to ending the dispute._
   - _Many actors take the theater route before moving into film._
5. In American football, the set path a receiver follows to break free of defenders and catch a pass.
   - Simple: In American football, a planned path a player runs to get free to catch a pass.
   - _The tight end ran a short route over the middle and caught the ball for a first down._
   - _Rookie receivers often struggle to learn every route in the playbook._

## Verb

4. To direct or divert someone or something along a particular course.
   - Simple: To send someone or something along a certain way or path.
   - _Dispatchers route emergency calls to the nearest available unit._
   - _Engineers routed the new pipeline around the protected wetland._
6. In computer networking, to send data from one network to another through a router, or to link networks this way.
   - Simple: In computing, to send data between networks along a chosen path, using a device called a router.
   - _Modern switches can route packets between separate subnets._
   - _The gateway routes traffic from the office network out to the internet and back again._

## Other meanings

- (noun) An entry stored in a router that determines how incoming data is to be forwarded.
- (noun) A path through a railway network that the signaling system has secured and locked for one train, preventing conflicting movements.
- (noun) In horse racing, a longer race, usually one mile or more, as opposed to a sprint.
- (noun) One of the major administrative regions of imperial China under the Song and Jin dynasties, successors to the Tang circuits; under the Yuan, a smaller unit.

## Origin

From Middle English route, from Old French route, from Latin rupta "(way) made by force," literally a path forced through. It is related to Latin ruptus, the same root seen in words like bankrupt, and compare Modern French route.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/route (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).